


Kill your darlings

by irradiatedsoup (dul_cin_ea)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hex (TV), Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Skins (UK), Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Romance, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:02:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22923787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dul_cin_ea/pseuds/irradiatedsoup
Summary: In the end, there is nothing.
Relationships: Owen Harper/Toshiko Sato
Kudos: 9





	Kill your darlings

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted on livejournal on 3 August 2008, and has been exported from there, so apologies for the (undoubtedly numerous) extremely old errors.
> 
> Thankyou: to [ LJ User: semplice ] for the beta, and [ LJ User: slasheuse ] for the brit-pick. Disclaimer: Torchwood never subscribed or logic or reason, so turnabout is fair play

In the end, there is nothing.

And when the nothing begins to fall away, she wakes again there is something else. No bright light, no heavenly music; just something slowly ﬁlling up the space around her. She feels it like hair prickling on her skin.

Then just as quickly it gives way and her eyes are open, and she’s lying in cold, wet earth. It takes Toshiko a moment to catch her breath, for her eyes to adjust to the sunlight; to sit up and realise she’s in the middle of a muddy paddock. And then she hears them.

‘It’s over here!’ yells a deep voice. ‘Come on Adams, hurry up.’

‘Fucking hell, I hate it when they land this far out,’ says another voice, presumably Adams.

‘It’s a good thing, mean’s it’s stronger.’

Tosh feels a sudden jolt of fear, and instinctively moves to escape, but she’s dizzy and the muddy earth grips at her clothes and skin. She’s barely on her feet before a hand grasps her shoulder.

‘No use running love, nowhere to go,’ the deeper voice tells her. Tosh turns around, her heart beating faster at the sight of them. Deﬁnitely not human.

‘Is this hell?’ Tosh asks softly.

‘Adams’ laughs and shakes his head, looping a thick metal cuﬀ around her wrist.

-

One of Tosh’s earliest memories from when she was still alive is grass clippings. Her father’s old lawn mower had left cut grass trailing in horizontal lines across the back garden. If the clippings weren’t raked and thrown away, Tosh would gather the grass herself, piling it up and creating makeshift hideaways. She spent entire afternoons some days, creating her grass dens, until the sun would start to set and her mother would call her in and yell at her for getting grass all over the carpet.

Where Tosh is now, wherever that is, everything is dirty and cold and the ground everywhere is black mud. Nothing is growing, at least not anywhere she can see. They walk her for half an hour or so and with every step Tosh feels more and more uneasy; her skin positively crawling when she is walked through the gates of a large, grey, run down building.

Inside there seem to be quite a few people wandering around, but before Tosh can ask any of them what is going on, she’s being shuﬄed down a long hallway and pushed into a room. ’Adams’ runs some sort of electronic device over the cuﬀ around her wrist, and it seems to tighten slightly.

‘Wait, please I just want to know—,’ she starts, but the door closes and everything is dark again.

Tosh turns around slowly. Her eyes haven’t quite adjusted, but she knows she’s not alone. She can see the shadows moving; hear them breathing.

‘She’s a bit of alright then?’ says an unexpectedly cheerful voice. 

‘Miles, do you think you could attempt some semblance of decorum?’ 

‘We’re dead Jimmy, I couldn’t give a toss about decorum.’

‘Oh? And what was your excuse when you were alive?’

‘Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean I can’t curse the both of you,’ interrupts a third voice. ‘And I will if you don’t stop bickering.’

Curiosity quickly gets the better of her fear, and Tosh takes a few tentative steps forward so that she can see more clearly. The one who has just spoken turns to face her, oﬀering his hand.

‘Remus Lupin,’ he says, his eyes are intense, but not frightening. Tosh shakes his hand.

‘Toshiko Sato.’ Her voice sounds thin and shaky out loud, but if Remus notices he doesn’t show it. He just smiles at her, and nods.

‘This is James Norrington,’ he says, gesturing to the taller man beside him wearing some sort of military attire, and then to other one –who is much younger; still a teenager. ‘And this is Chris Miles. We appear to be your new cellmates.’

Chris pushes hair out of his face, and sort of waves at her. James just nods curtly.

‘Lovely to meet you all,’ Tosh says, trying to keep her voice light. ‘Where are we?’ 

There is an awkward pause while the three men look at each other.

The problem is, Remus explains, is that no one knows for sure. There are lots of theories about purgatory and other dimensions or voids, but no one exactly where they are and no one stays long enough to ﬁnd out. They do however, know why they’re here.

‘Snatchers,’ Chris says, lighting a cigarette, taking a long drag, and passing it to James.

Remus nods. ‘You know the old saying ‘I’d sell my soul’? As it turns out, others can do that for you. Those men that brought you here, they’re sort of underworld bounty hunters, they catch souls as they are passing over.’

Tosh remembers now, vaguely, the feeling of something happening around her, just before she’d woken up in the ﬁeld.

‘Pass over to where exactly?’ she asks, hands clasped.

James clears his throat. ‘If we had that knowledge, I dare say we wouldn’t be here.’

'Our souls are the very essence of who we are,’ Remus says, distractedly. ‘And extremely powerful. In the hands of another, they can cure sickness, prolong life, some say they can even bring back the dead. People will do all sorts of reprehensible things for that kind of power.'

‘But-’ Tosh shakes her head, ‘I–, we’re already dead, our souls are all we’ve got left. What happens to us when someone takes them?’

All three men look at her, but none of them has an answer.

‘Oh,’ Tosh says, feeling a little nauseous. She diverts her attention to Chris. ‘Do you have any more of those cigarettes by any chance? I’ve never tried one before.’

-

Tosh had fallen from her bike the day after she’d taken the stabilisers oﬀ. She’d trapped her leg underneath her as she fell, and it had stung terribly but there was no blood, so in her pride she hadn't told anyone about it. The next day she had a bright purple bruise across the side of her knee, that over the next week gradually faded to a bluish yellow. She was quietly fascinated by it, and would sit in the bath at night gently prodding until she could feel the dull throb of her secret battle wound again, healing slowly, mysteriously underneath her skin.

She’s wearing the same bloodstained clothes as when she died, but when Toshiko rolls up her shirt her stomach is smooth is and unblemished. In the dark she presses her hand down against the skin where the bullets had gone in but there’s no pain; there’s nothing at all.

When she opens her eyes again, it’s to the sound of voices; more speciﬁcally to James and Chris arguing.

Again.

‘I’m telling you Jimmy, it’s possible.’

‘I didn’t say it wasn’t, I said I didn’t wish to hear about it. And stop calling me Jimmy, it’s James; I was an admiral once.’

‘Okay Admiral Jimmy, if you believe me, let’s see it.’

‘If you think I’m going to attempt to lick my own elbow, you’re mistaken.’

‘Come on, it’s hilarious.’

Tosh lifts her head to see James crossing his arms, bemused. ‘Is this truly all you did with your life, Miles? See how many parts of your anatomy you could sully with your mouth?’

‘Well,’ Chris says, grinning. ‘We can’t all spend it on boats eating lemons and chasing pirates around, can we?’

James’s eyebrows narrow dangerously and Tosh laughs. The men all turn to look at her, startled by the sound of it. Tosh herself is a little unnerved, it’s been a long time since she’s heard her own laugh. Or anyone’s really. She glances sidelong out of the cell.

‘Looks like the sun’s up then?’ she says, attempting a cheerful tone. 

Remus smiles wearily at her. ‘It happens from time to time.’

-

The Snatchers let them out during the day, into a long muddy yard about the size of a soccer ﬁeld. Tosh isn’t sure why they bother, but she assumes it’s to do with not voiding the warranty. No one wants a soul that’s already broken; something like that.

James and Remus sit with a brunette they know whose name is Thelma, she’s quite young – like Chris, but louder, sharper and generally more aware. Chris wants to walk, so Tosh goes along with him.

‘Here we have some mud, and over her there is a fence, and over here there is some more mud,’ Chris says, seemingly incapable of stopping. ‘Here are some dead people walking around on the mud. Be careful of the ornery bloke over there, he bit the last guy who tried to talk to him.’

Tosh glances over in the direction Chris is gesturing; at the man sitting against the fence with his head down. Her stomach drops. She takes a few steps forward to make sure she’s not imagining things and- 

‘Oh god.’

‘It’ll be ﬁne if you just ignore him.’ 

‘Owen!’ Tosh yells.

‘Or you could do that.’ Chris says, shrugging.

Tosh isn’t really paying attention to Chris at all anymore, and stumbles forward again.

‘Owen!’

He lifts his head this time, looking distinctly annoyed and searching for the source of the noise. Then Owen is looking right at her, staring, mouth open in shock. Tosh is not sure what to do next so she sort of puts her hand up in an awkward wave. Owen gets his feet and starts striding across the yard. It occurs to Tosh that she could be imagining all this, but then technically she doesn’t really have a brain to hallucinate with.

‘Fucking hell,’ Owen says when he stops in front of her, a smile spreading across his face, ‘Some women will do anything for date.’

Tosh snorts, but her throat feels tight and she can’t think to say anything, so she just steps into him. Owen grabs hold of her, and he hugs her so tightly it’s hard to breathe. For a second Tosh’s eyes slip shut and she’s somewhere else.

Tosh,’ Owen starts, bringing her back. ‘You said– you told me you –.’ 

She nods quickly, cutting him oﬀ. ‘I may have twisted the truth a little.’

Tosh starts to pull away, but Owen doesn’t move, holding her tighter. ‘Owen—’

‘Hey you!’ Chris interrupts. ‘Don’t bite her, alright?’

Owen ﬁnally loosens his grip and looks over at Chris, and then back at Tosh. ‘He’s a little young for you isn’t he?’ He tilts his head slightly, contemplatively: ‘Lively in the sack though, I bet.’

Tosh rolls her eyes. ‘And to think there was a whole minute there where I was glad to see you.’ 

‘Yeah, sorry about that. Must be losing my touch.’

He doesn’t leave her side for the rest of the day.

-

Tosh ﬁnds it hard to tell what is real and what isn’t in this place. For all intents and purposes, it seems like they could just be in a secluded area on earth, someplace outside of civilization. Except that certain elements of life are completely missing. When she was alive and feeling particularly out of sorts, Tosh would often take to cutting up as many things as she had in her fridge and cooking huge haphazard meals for herself that she inevitably would end up freezing, throwing out or giving to her elderly neighbour’s labrador.

Here she doesn’t need to eat. She could, she supposes, if she wanted to. Many of the prisoners here eat, smoke and drink to pass the time, but the essential need for nourishment – something so integral to being human– isn’t there anymore. She doesn’t feel full, but she never gets hungry either. There is just, nothing.

Remus doesn’t eat – At least as far as Tosh has seen. Chris and James however, seem to take whatever they can get their hands on; like it might be their last chance. Tonight they are sharing a loaf of bread over a game of poker. Tosh didn’t know you could play poker with only two people, but they seem to have their own rules, that naturally neither of them can agree on.

Tosh sits next to Remus, who is reading, and watches them play. 

‘How long til they start throwing the cards at each other?’

Remus smiles but doesn’t look up from his book. 

‘I’d say we’ve got about seven minutes peace.’ 

‘Impressive.’

‘It’s a good night.’

‘I heard that,’ Chris says, words slurred slightly by the cigarette dangling from his lips. ‘It’s not my fault Jimmy here thinks he’s the boss of me, just because he was born in the 1600’s or whatever.’

James deals out his cards. ‘Stop talking and play the game, or I’ll take away your bread.’

'Hey, and you’re not my Mum so you don’t get to punish me either!’

‘If I was in any way responsible for bringing you into the world, I assure you that would be punishment enough for both of us.’

‘You do realise it’s all smoke and mirrors,’ Remus says to Tosh, his voice lowered to almost a whisper. 

‘I’m sorry?’

‘Those two have been virtually inseparable since the moment they met each other,’ Remus elaborates. ‘As if they were long lost brothers.’

Tosh shakes her head, confused. 

‘They haven’t stopped ﬁghting since the moment I arrived.’ 

‘What family doesn’t ﬁght?’ Remus says, shrugging.

Tosh supposes he has a point. Jack and Owen had been almost constantly antagonistic toward one another and then, well, she’d seen how that had turned out.

‘Snap! Ha!’ Chris yells, smacking both his hands down on a pile of cards. ‘Take that, Admiral!’

James puts his cards down, and stares at Chris without expression. 

‘I’ll explain the rules of poker to you again, shall I?’

Tosh laughs, and almost doesn’t hear Remus speaking again. His voice is so soft and wistful. 

‘Such a shame, that they found each other here.’

‘Toshiko,’ James says, looking over at her ‘That fellow that was with you today, was he a friend of yours from when you were alive?’ 

Tosh pauses, unsure how to answer that. 

‘I– We worked together.’

‘Killed you, did he?’ Chris asks.

‘No, no, of course not. We were on the same team– I was shot by someone.’ Tosh says, surprised at how easily the words come. A ﬂash of blood on white tiles registers in her memory, but little else. ‘And Owen, well, he was shot the ﬁrst time anyway. It’s sort of complicated.’

Surprisingly, they don’t question her further. James goes on to tell her that they’ve got Owen in a cell by himself, after he spent his ﬁrst days screaming and attacking anything and anyone within his reach. Tosh isn’t surprised, not really; ending up in this place must have been the ﬁnal straw for him. The isolation must be getting to Owen too, because every day he turns up at the same place in the yard, waiting for her.

And she never disappoints him.

-

‘Do you think they miss us?’ Tosh asks. 

Owen and her are sitting alongside each other under the remains of what must have once been a tree. Snatchers walk past occasionally, but don’t bother them.

‘Hmm?’

‘Torchwood.’ Tosh clariﬁes.

Owen makes a derisive little sound. ‘Are you kidding? They lost the best doctor and computer tech they ever had, it will have gone to complete shit down there. They probably had to bring in Rhys and Constable Andy just to counteract all the depressed shagging going on.’

Tosh laughs, not believing it for a second. Jack would have had a contingency plan. For a moment she wonders who she replaced; she’d never given it much thought when she was still alive. She’d always had the impression that Jack had created the position for her, because he needed her, rather than ﬁll an empty chair.

‘I think they miss us, too.’

‘You maybe, you were nice,’ Owen says. ‘I had resident bastard security. If you don’t get close to people, you don’t have to worry about things being total crap when you rot.’

‘I loved you,’ Tosh points out, matter-of-factly. 

‘And look where it got you.’

Tosh pauses at the sudden change of tone, choosing her words carefully. 

‘Owen, you couldn’t have helped me even if you’d known-’

He turns on her suddenly. 

‘What makes you think I’d have anyway? To be honest Tosh, I didn’t get it then, and I still don’t now. Whatever it is you saw in me? It wasn’t real. I’m not like you, I don’t sodding care.’

Tosh shakes her head. ‘If that’s true, then why did you become a doctor? Why did you join Torchwood?’

‘Well. For the sex, obviously,’ Owen jokes, not missing a beat. But the expression on his face is diﬀerent now; softer. She shuﬄes closer and leans against him. He shifts, and slings an arm across her shoulders.

‘If I’d have known, I’d at the very least have fucking stopped wasting time reminiscing about space pigs.’

Owen’s voice sounds deeper and throatier with her ear next to his chest. Tosh wants to say something smart, something reassuring, but she only has the truth.

‘It was too late, I made a choice.’

‘Don’t know if it’s a choice I’d have made.’ 

‘You did, you idiot. Several times.’

Owen rubs her shoulder absently. 

‘So, we pretty much save the entire country from nuclear fallout and we wind up here. Hell of a deal.’

Tosh turns her head, about to say something reassuring, but something catches her eye before she can speak.

‘…Was that there before?’

Owen follows her gaze upward, and stops rubbing her shoulder. 

‘Okay, that is weird.’

They’re looking at the remains of the very charred, unmistakably dead tree they are sitting under. At the top, at the end of a broken branch, there is a small green leaf, twitching slightly in the wind. When Tosh ﬁnally tears her gaze away from it, Owen is looking at her, a slight smile on his face. 

‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost, darlin.’ 

Tosh shakes her head. ‘I see those every day.’

-

When she gets back to her cell she can tell something is wrong right away. The air is colder, more still. Remus and Chris’ sobered expressions only conﬁrm her suspicions.

‘What is it? Where is James?’ 

Chris just looks at her, white-faced.

‘They took him, I’m afraid.’ Remus says. ‘He’ll be sold in the next couple of days.’ 

Tosh sits down, her legs folding underneath her almost involuntarily.

‘It’s all wrong,’ Chris says ﬁnally, his voice wavering. ‘It was supposed to be me. They asked for me, and he said—.’

‘Oh, James,’ Tosh breathes.

‘Why the fuck would he do that?!’ Chris shouts suddenly, addressing no one in particular. ‘What is he playing at?’

‘Perhaps he wanted you to have more time,’ Remus responds ﬁrmly.

‘Well, he’s a knob-head. He’s knob-head and when I see him again I’m going to–.’ Chris stops, realisation sinking in. Remus moves just quick enough to catch Chris as he’s going down, cursing and sobbing; horrible wrenching sounds that make Tosh’s chest ache. Remus looks at her helplessly and she takes his free hand and holds it tight.

They sit like that, holding on to each other, deep into the night.

-

‘I think we should break James out,’ Tosh says quietly, when they gather in the yard the next morning. She’s been thinking about it all night, and the beginnings of a plan have been formulating in her head. Something almost like hope has awakened inside of her, with it.

Chris looks slightly interested, but the rest of them stare at her like she’s completely nuts.

‘Break him out where exactly?’ Thelma asks, holding up her cuﬀed wrist. ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed sweetheart, but we’re all prisoners here. All of us are going like James has, sooner or later.’

‘But what if we don’t have to?’ Tosh pushes. ‘Just because we’re dead, doesn’t mean we can’t do anything.’

Owen raises an eyebrow.

‘Well actually Tosh, that sort of exactly what it means.’

‘No, no,’ Tosh insists, unwilling to give in. ‘We’re here aren’t we? We’re all standing around talking and breathing and even if it’s all an illusion, that’s something isn’t it?’

There is an uncomfortable silence, and then Tosh starts again.

‘We all have abilities. So, just imagine what we can do as a team.’ 

‘Oh, we’re Captain Planet now are we?’ Owen laughs. ‘I bags the power of heart.’

‘No.’ Tosh says, suddenly annoyed. ‘You’d need to possess one for that.’ 

Owen’s mouth snaps shut.

‘Toshiko,’ Remus says reasonably, ‘We don’t have any idea where we are; we don’t know what’s out there. There could be nothing outside these walls, or worse, there could be more darkness and more evil waiting for us.’

‘I know, I just think,’ Tosh says. ‘We can assume the worst, and give up, and wait for them to take us one by one. But we’re- I’m already dead here, I’ve only got one thing left to lose, and I’m not letting them take it without a ﬁght.’

Tosh is about to say something else when Owen grabs her arm, spinning her around and kissing her. There’s an inappropriate tenderness to it; lips all soft and wet against her mouth, sending a swell of heat through her stomach. Tosh grips his arm and allows herself to kiss him back, and for the most part she doesn’t wonder if this is real.

When she breaks away from him, Chris, Thelma and Remus have pointedly averted their eyes and looking at each other with small embarrassed grins on their faces. Owen hasn’t seemed to notice, he’s looking right at her, deﬁantly.

‘How’s my heart?’ he asks.

Tosh shrugs, attempting nonchalance. ‘Appears to be beating.’ 

‘Brilliant, carry on then.’

‘Yes, I—um.’ Tosh ﬂounders. ‘I was saying I—’

Remus is the ﬁrst to break, his laughter bursting out; a loud happy sound in the still air. That starts Chris oﬀ and Owen ducks his head, putting a hand over his mouth, trying unsuccessfully to stiﬂe his laughter. Tosh looks to Thelma for support but she’s already lost it, and then Tosh can’t hold it back either and they’re all of them, standing there looking at each other and laughing like giddy children.

A Snatcher nearby stops and stares at them, but doesn’t move, like he doesn’t know exactly what to do. Tosh pulls herself together quickly, and stares right back at him unﬂinchingly, til he turns and walks away.

‘Alright, let’s see now,’ Tosh says, suddenly focused again. ‘Remus, you know some magic, is that right?’

Remus nods, slowly.

‘I don’t have my wand, but I could stun a man temporarily.’

‘Said the captain to the butler,’ Owen jokes. Everyone groans, and he turns and shrugs at Tosh: ‘What? Jack’s not here is he? Someone’s got to pick up the slack.’

‘I think I can work out a way to disable the cuﬀs,’ Tosh says, decisively, and then directs her attention back to Owen: ‘You’re going to be the bait.’

‘Beg pardon?’

‘We’re really going to do this then?’ Thelma asks, her expression slightly hopeful. 

‘We’re certainly going to try,’ Tosh responds, shooting her a small smile.

‘Hey, It’s like we’re in a street gang or something,’ Chris says, laughing nervously. ‘Like on the telly. It’s us versus the Snatchers, having a bit of a rumble’

Owen looks at him warily.

‘If you start clicking your ﬁngers and prancing around, you’re on your own mate.’

They spend the rest of the day working out their plan, in bits and pieces, careful not to draw attention to themselves. Tosh spends much of her time reassuring the others, and trying to reassure herself.

When it gets dark and every possible angle has been discussed, Owen tugs at her hand and leads her quickly across the yard. The door to his cell is barely shut before he pulls her close again, kissing her, needy, messily; like he’s trying to take in as much as he can before it’s all over. Tosh ﬁsts her hands in his hair, holding on, and pushes him back against the door for support, convinced they’re both going to fall down otherwise. Owen sticks his hand up her shirt and runs it across her stomach, licking at her top lip. Then just as abruptly he pulls away.

‘Fuck it,’ he breathes, pushing her hair gently away from the sides of her face. ‘I really— I wish we weren’t here right now. I mean, it’s not that I’m not into public sex or anything, because I am, I really am. There was this one time in France–’

Tosh puts her hand over his mouth, her face burning with heat. 

‘Yes, Owen. I get it.’ 

Owen smiles mischievously and kisses the inside of her palm

‘We are going to get out,’ she says conﬁdently, wiping her hand on his sleeve. 'All of us’

‘The thing is Tosh, I actually kind of believe you when you say that and—’ Owen stops, tilting his head down and clearing his throat. ‘—it is as scary as fuck.’

Tosh feels an old, familiar swell of aﬀection. She takes Owen’s hand and threads her ﬁngers through his. ‘I need your help with something.’

Looking back, Tosh can’t even remember how long she spent wishing he would say the words while she was alive, but Owen Harper decides to tell her he loves her when she’s standing on his shoulders in the middle of the night trying to reach a single green leaf growing absurdly on a dead tree.

His timing always was impeccable.

-

Before Torchwood, before the sonic screwdriver, when Tosh was just like everyone else working in their oﬃce in Cardiﬀ, she’d thought the banality of it all was driving her slowly mad. There were days where she would be walking through the hallway and the sight of the immaculately painted wall at the end would make her want to run, and throw her entire body at it; mark it with herself. Other times she would step into a crowded elevator and want to scream til her throat hurt. She never did anything like it, of course, they were just strange thoughts and she was a model of normality. But these thoughts scared her a little anyway, because as she thought; maybe one day they wouldn’t just be odd little impulses. Maybe one day she’d snap and run straight at that wall. Maybe if she gathered enough speed she’d go all the way through.

-

It’s still dark when Remus wakes her and tells her it’s time. Tosh sits up, fear suddenly swelling up in the pit of her stomach. Chris is pacing, agitated, which doesn’t help her nerves either. She nods, and moves to the door with Remus and they both peer out through the hatch. There is a Snatcher down the hallway from them.

‘Is he close enough?’ Tosh asks.

Remus shakes his head, so Tosh takes a quick breath and taps on the metal door. When she can see the Snatcher is moving towards them, she steps back and Remus moves in. The few tense seconds that pass take far too long til the lock unbolts, the door creaks open. Remus shouts _Stupefy!_ and there is a ﬂash of light and a thud.

‘Oh, fuck me,’ Chris mutters, helping Tosh pull the unconscious Snatcher into the cell.

They’re barely out the door, and locking it behind them when Thelma appears out of nowhere, startling them all half to death.

‘I swear I must have been a crook in a past life’ she says, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Or a Locksmith.’

‘There’s a diﬀerence?’ Chris whispers.

The four of them creep down the hallway as far as they dare to, and then stop. They’ve got another six minutes or so before Owen is due to cause a distraction, so they huddle together in the cold and wait.

At twelve minutes Tosh is shaking with the adrenaline, at fourteen the screaming starts. She knows Owen knows what he’s doing, and she knows it’s for show, but it’s still hard to listen to.

It works; they watch ﬁve or six Snatchers moving towards Owen’s cell, from their hiding place, and when they’re out of sight Tosh doesn’t even pause to take in air.

‘Go,’ she says.

Remus and Chris head out into the yard and Tosh and Thelma run straight down the hallway for the central room.

Thelma is shockingly good with a mere piece of wire and has the door open in seconds. Tosh bolts for the computer, ﬂicking it on and holding her breath.

‘I know this one, I can do this,’ Tosh says, breathlessly to Thelma; relief hitting her in a wave. It only takes her a few minutes to crack the security system, she can hear Owen screaming still, things seem to be getting louder outside rather than quieter, but she focuses intently on what she’s doing, what she knows, she enters a few more lines of code and then with a clunk, her wrist cuﬀ falls oﬀ.

‘Shit, you’re like a fucking genius,’ Thelma says holding up her cuﬀ-free arm. ‘Can we get out of here, now?’

‘Just one minute’ Tosh says, diverting her attention back to the computer again and changing all the cells to ‘unlocked’.

‘Okay, let’s go.’

‘I don’t think so,’ says a deeper voice, and Tosh looks up to see one of the Snatchers in the doorway, and Thelma backing up. Tosh feels like she’s been punched in the chest. No, she thinks. Not again. The snatcher takes another step into the room. ‘If you ladies come quietly, I won’t hurt you a whole lot. I can’t say as much for your friends. It was very stupid of you to try to escape, you know. You can't escape from here. No one does.’

Tosh doesn’t speak to him, she just grabs Thelma’s hand and squeezes it as hard as she can. Thelma turns her head slightly like she’s trying to tell her something, but then the Snatcher lunges at them, and Tosh yelps and Thelma jumps forward and all three of them are all falling hard to the ﬂoor. When Tosh opens her eyes again she can feel hot, wet liquid running over her arm. She panics and rolls out from underneath them.

‘Thelma?’ Tosh shrieks.

‘Get him oﬀ me!’ Thelma shrieks back at her. Tosh runs back and helps Thelma roll the Snatcher oﬀ her, and it’s then she can see that his eyes are glassy, and that there is wire embedded in his neck.

Thelma vainly attempts to wipe excess blood from her front. 

‘Deﬁnitely a crook,’ she says, her voice wavering.

‘Superhero more like,’ Tosh says. ‘Come on. Quickly.’

It’s chaos when they run out into the yard. Prisoners are everywhere; ﬁghting oﬀ Snatchers and running to escape. They dart through everyone; scanning the area for their friends.

Finally Tosh spots Chris over to one side being backed into a corner by a Snatcher. James is lying on the ground, not moving.

Tosh doesn’t stop to think, she just starts running towards them, she’s by James’s side when Owen runs blindly past her and jumps on the Snatcher’s back, and they go down and hit the ground in front of Chris. Owen manages to yell a few expletives before the Snatcher ﬂips him over easily and grabs his neck with both hands, choking him.

‘Owen!’ Tosh screams, getting to her feet. She, Chris and Thelma all jump on the Snatcher at once, beating at him with their ﬁsts, desperately trying to get him oﬀ Owen. But he’s too big, and Owen’s eyes are starting to unfocus. For a moment Owen spots Tosh and mouths the word Run, but she ignores him and grabs handfuls of the Snatcher’s hair, pulling back as hard as she can. The Snatcher growls and swats back at her, hitting her in the face. She falls backwards, just as she hears Remus shout and sees a crack of green light.

Tosh just lies there for a minute, waiting, and then a coughing spluttering Owen leans over her and asks if she’s alright.

She nods slowly, hardly believing it herself.

‘Well, stop pissing around on the ground then, we’ve got to leave,’ Owen says, with a grin.

Tosh sits up and kisses him quickly on the lips, and then his chin; his cheekbone; his ear, and all over his obnoxious, grinning face.

When she looks up, all her battle-weary friends are smiling too, including James who is on his feet and bracing himself against the dead tree.

‘I believe the exit is that way,’ James says, gesturing vaguely. 

‘Oh well, thank fuck we rescued you,’ Chris responds.

By the time Tosh and Owen are out of the gates and oﬀ the main road, they’re running. Thelma passes them. Remus and Chris are supporting James, helping him along, right behind them.

Tosh stops short, putting a hand to her stomach; something feeling diﬀerent all of a sudden.

‘Oh,’ She says, with realisation. ‘I think I’m hungry.’

Owen stops and looks at her, breathless. 

‘Tosh, this isn’t really the best time for a picnic.’ 

‘No, you don’t understand, I’m hungry. I _feel hungry_.’

‘Do you feel crazy too, by any chance?’

Tosh swats his arm, laughing and shaking her head. She feels crazy alright, but joyously so. Every inch of her skin is vibrating with anticipation.

Owen takes her hand in his, and kisses the back of her palm.

‘Don’t let go, okay?’

Tosh grins.

‘I haven’t yet, have I?’

They start to run again, after the others, making their way up the muddy, stark hill. Tosh is unsure where they’re going or what they’ll ﬁnd when they get there, but she’s not scared anymore. In the distance she can see the sun starting to peer over the horizon; she knows she’s not supposed to but she can’t help but look at it.

For a moment, the light is blinding.


End file.
